For the first time in 28 years, Lebanon will legislate on the cultivation of cannabis

Hisham Awwad:

Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament Nabih Berri revealed Wednesday that the House of Representatives intended to prepare the pbading of laws to legislate on cannabis cultivation prohibited under official efforts to promote the country's economic deterioration.

She proposed global consultations to develop a plan to promote the Lebanese economy by legislating cannabis culture for medical use, which was decades before a multimillion dollar industry before being criminalized by the authorities , according to Sky News.

Berri told Elizabeth Richard, the US ambbadador to Lebanon, that "the House of Representatives is preparing and approving the legislation necessary to legislate cannabis cultivation and its manufacture for medical purposes. , like many European countries and American states. "

Lebanese President Michel Aoun received this month the report of McKinsey Consulting for the promotion of the Lebanese economy.

The Minister of Trade and Economy, Raed Khoury, said at a conference a few days ago that one of the proposals was "the establishment areas of cannabis cultivation for medical purposes as part of a comprehensive regulatory law ".

The cultivation of Lebanese cannabis during the 1975-1990 civil war was a flourishing industry that generated millions of dollars.

After the war, the Lebanese state is campaigning to eradicate this agriculture, promising alternative crops, which has not been done.

The current Lebanese law punishes all those who traffic al-Hashish in prison, although many of the traffickers of this forbidden culture are locked up in several areas of the Bekaa and are pursued continuously by state agencies. after issuing arrest warrants against them.

The Lebanese economy has been gradually deteriorating since 2011 due to the political stalemate and the division of several internal files. Lebanon ranks third on the list of the world's most indebted countries.

The budget deficit in Lebanon over the last seven years has doubled from $ 2.3 billion in 2011 to $ 4.8 billion in 2018.